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Trust me, passengers, I’m the best pilot for this airline

United Continental’s Jeff Smisek wants to be the face of the world’s biggest airline, even running a video of himself on flights

The Andrew Davidson Interview

July 1 2012, 1:01am, The Sunday Times

If you want a tough task, try merging two airlines with 87,000 staff and 1,252 planes. “Heavily regulated, heavily unionised, different fleets, different technology platforms...” Jeff Smisek counts off the points, then nods. “It’s really difficult.”

Let’s not even mention the 148m passengers each year. Yet somehow Smisek, 57, chief executive of United Continental, remains undaunted.

His merger of two of America’s best-known airlines to create the world’s biggest — trading as United — has the aviation industry on its toes. Likewise his decision to push himself forward as the face of the new venture.

There’s a Smisek video that greets you on every flight, plus a propensity for blunt speaking that has rarely been heard before, certainly on United’s side of the Atlantic.